Brandon Sun - PRINT EDITION
Chicago Blackhawks' Marian Hossa leaves the ice on a stretcher Tuesday, after a hit from Phoenix Coyotes' Raffi Torres. The failure by NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan to act early in the playoffs has opened the door for more dangerous hits.
Brendan Shanahan lost all credibility — not to mention any semblance of control of law and order in the game — on the opening night of this year’s NHL playoffs.
And the results haven’t been pretty.
The NHL’s disciplinarian wasted all the progress the league had made this season in its new crackdown on headshots when he chose not to suspend Shea Weber for his WWE-style move in their series opener last week when the Nashville Predators captaingrabbed Detroit Red Wings star Henrik Zetterberg by the helmet and slammed his head into the glass.
Shanahan’s decision to not suspend Weber, and instead slap a player who earned a whopping $7.5 million this season with a laughable $2,500 fine, clearly left NHL players shaking their heads and wondering what they could get away with, too.
"In a situation like that with Weber, more than anything you should make an example of it, regardless of whether he’s a star player," Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews told the Chicago Tribune. "They have been trying to make an example of things like that so they don’t happen again and all of a sudden you let one slide like that."
One wonders if a player like Predators teammate Jordin Tootoo, who has dished out his share of shots over the years, would have received the same leniency from Shanny. Former NHLer Bobby Holik doubts it.
"When you suspend Matt Cooke or Andy Sutton, it’s costing those players money," Holik told The Canadian Press. "When you suspend Duncan Keith or Shea Weber, there’s a very good chance that it’s going to cost the owners money by them either losing a playoff game or playoff round … The reality is there’s double standards or triple standards, it’s always been that way."
Letting Weber off the hook ignited a powder keg of ugly incidents, a long list of cheap shots, blindside hits and general mayhem that has marred what should be the best time of the year for the NHL.
"This has spiraled from out of control to total chaos," NHL player agent Allan Walsh tweeted. "Do we really need a player to die on the ice for this insanity to stop?"
Possibly.
New York Ranger Carl Hagelin’s brutal elbow to the head of Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson — Alfredsson hasn’t played since — and Pittsburgh Penguins agitator Arron Asham’s nasty cross-check to the face of former Brandon Wheat Kings co-captain Brayden Schenn of the Philadelphia Flyers were vicious enough. But Phoenix Coyotes repeat offender Raffi Torres took it to a new level on Tuesday night when he launched into Chicago’s Marian Hossa and sent him to hospital strapped to a stretcher.
Torres will face the music today for that dangerous hit. Here’s hoping Shanahan finally wrestles back control of the playoffs by dishing out a double-digit suspension.
DYNAMITE DEBUT: Lost in all the playoff pugilism has been a superb start by Schenn, who sat tied for ninth in league scoring entering last night’s action with five points in four games. The 20-year-old Schenn set up a pair of goals by linemate Daniel Briere before scoring himself to force overtime in his playoff debut in Philadelphia’s series-opening 4-3 victory over Pittsburgh.
Schenn, who scored 12 goals in 54 regular-season games, has also been a physical presence — drawing the ire of Asham in Game 3 — and helped get Sidney Crosby off his game by mixing it up with the Penguins superstar in the post-whistle scrums that dominated the first three games of the series.
"It’s awesome — playoff hockey," Schenn told the Philadelphia Enquirer after notching two more assists in Philly’s 8-4 victory on Sunday. "You see how hard everyone competes and the hatred between these two teams. It was a lot of fun."
ICINGS: Wheat Kings owner Kelly McCrimmon confirms that "negotiations are ongoing" with Keystone Centre general manager Neil Thomson on a new lease for the WHL club. Thomson, you may remember, originally stated he thought a deal could be reached by the end of February. The Wheat Kings’ current lease expires in just 42 days … You can watch Brandonite Joel Edmundson and the Moose Jaw Warriors face off against former Wheat King Klarc Wilson — if he’s not a healthy scratch — and the Edmonton Oil Kings in Game 1 of the WHL’s Eastern Conference final tonight on Shaw and WCG-TV at 8 p.m.
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition April 20, 2012
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Brendan Shanahan lost all credibility — not to mention any semblance of control of law and order in the game — on the opening night of this year’s NHL playoffs.
And the results haven’t been pretty.
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Brendan Shanahan lost all credibility — not to mention any semblance of control of law and order in the game — on the opening night of this year’s NHL playoffs.
And the results haven’t been pretty.
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